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CONCISE HISTORY 



OP 



ip 



By henry McGUIER. 



SARATOGA SPRINGS: 

STEAM PRESSES OF O. M. DAVISON. 

1867. 



pigj ^0tfi Congress spring Compaitg. 



JAMES M. MARVIN, - - President 

JOHN" H. WHITE, _ . . _ _ Secretary. 

JOHN S. LEAKE, - Treasurer. 

WILLIAM H. McCaffrey, ----- Superintendent 



otHEOTona, 



JAMES M. MARVIN, 
JOHN S. LEAKE, 
SEYMOUR AINSWORTH, 



JOHN H. WHITE, 

WM. H. McCaffrey, 

DR. JOHN L. PERRY. 



JOHN McB. DAVIDSON. 



EXEOVTtVE OOMMtTTEE. 



JOHN H. WHITE, JOHN S. LEAKE, 

SEYMOUR AINSWORTH. 






Laboratory of the ScJiool of Mines, Columbia College, 
New Yoek, Kov. 17, 18G6. 

Wm. H. McCaffrey, Esq., 

Superintendent of High RocJc Spring: 

Sir : I have the honor to report the following results of the 
analysis of the water which I collected at the High Rock 
Spring, in Saratoga, in August last : 

la one gallon of 231 cubic inches are contained, 

Chloride of Sodium, 390.127 grains. 

Chloride of Potassium, 8.974 " 

Bromide of Sodium, 0.731 " 

lotlide of Sodium, 0.086 " 

Fluoride of Calcium, trace. 

Sulphate of Potassa, 1.608 " 

Bicarbonate of Baryta, - trace. 

Bicarbonate of Strontia, trace. 

Bicarbonate of Lime, 131.739 " 

Bicarbonate of Magnesia, 54.924 " 

Bicarbonate of Soda, 34.888 " 

Bicarbonate of Iron, 1.478 " 

Phosphate of Lime, trace. 

Alumina, 1.223 " 

Silica, 2.260 " 

Total, 628.039 grains. 

Carbonic acid gas, .> 409. 458 cubic inches. 

Respectfully yours, 

C. F. CHANDLER. 



By reference to the analyses of the various other mineral fountains 
of Saratoga, and a comparison with the above, it will be readily seen 
that the water of the High Rock Spring is not only a much heavier 
water, but that it also contains a ver}' much larger number of cubic 
inches of carbonic acid gas per gallon. 



HIGH ROCK CONGRESS SPRING. 



The proprietors of this fountain have adopted the following 
TABIFF OF PRICES. 



AT SARATOGA. 

Pints, per dozen, $2 00 

Quarts " " 3 00 

Orders at Saratoga embracing 

one gross or more. 
Pints, per dozen, $1 75 

Quarts " " 2 50 



AT NEW YORK. 

Pints, per dozen, $2 25 

Quarts " " 3 50 

Orders at New York embracing 

one gross or more. 
Pints, per dozen, %2 00 

Quarts " " 3 00 



Refilling Bottles. — Pints, 75 cents per dozen ; Quarts, $1.00 per dozen. 

This water is put up in cases containing four, five and six' 
dozen pints; and two, three and four dozen quarts. 



Southern Depot for the sale of this water, Wo. 544 Broadway, 
New York, near Metropolitan Hotel, 



NATURAL HISTORY 



OF THE 



MINERAL FOUNTAINS OF SARATOG-A. 



" Whence the origin of your mineral springs ?" 

This is a question often propounded to us by persons both 
of our own and other countries, who visit our world-famed 
watering place. And, undoubtedly, to those who have not 
made the complex operations of nature their study, there is 
very much of mystery connected with this matter. Nor, 
indeed, is there sufiQcient reason why our astonishment should 
be excited at this fact; for, amid the eternal activities of na- 
ture, and the illimitable resources from which she draws so 
largely for the production of her varied and ever varying phe- 
nomena, which "amid ceaseless changes seeks the unchanging 
pole," the naturalist, alone, finds in the laborious study and 
contemplation of those phenomena, a certainty which admits 
of no question, and a reward, the munificence of which baffles 
tlie skill of the mathematician in his attempts at computation. 
Nor, indeed, are any of her works so insignificant (if that be 
not a profanation) as not to demand his most serious and care- 
ful consideration. 
1* 



6 HISTORY OF 

That the reader may be enabled fully to understand the facts 
bearing upon this subject, it seems necessary to state, succinctly, 
the geological character of this locality. 

Immediately upon the north of the village of Saratoga 
Springs, and within about three miles, we have the metamor- 
phic rocks, (the Taconic system of Emmons and the '' Quebec 
group'^'' of the Canadian survey.) in mountainous ridges; trav- 
ersed, diagonally by basaltic dikes, and at right angles, or nearly 
so, by thin thread-like veins of a subsequently formed granite, 
showing thereby, frequent and extensive occurrences of vol- 
canic activity. 

Superimposed upon its southern slope reposes the ''Potsdam 
sand stone" of Emmons, and ISTo. 1 in the ascending series of the 
New York and Silurean systems, vv^ith a dip to the south east, 
varying from five to twenty degrees, and in transitu. Resting 
upon the Potsdam sandstone is the "Calciferous sandrock" of 
Eaton, No. 2 of the above systems, with a dip corresponding 
with the preceding, as to amount and direction. This rock em- 
braces, at this point, an area of about four square miles, and is 
bounded on the south and east by the valley in which our min- 
eral fountains are developed. The "Trenton hmestone," No. 3, 
(and by this designation I refer to the Chazy, Bird's eye, Black 
river and Trenton limestones,) is well developed upon our 
south west, about three miles distant, and loaded with its char- 
acteristic fossils, occupying a Tiorizontal position and in situ. 
Directly upon our south and east is developed the ^' Black" or 
" Utica slate " of Vanuxem, No. 4 of the above systems, over- 
laying the limestone, having its strata also liorizontal. 

Now, if we leave the railroad depot at this point, and pass 
south along the line of the track for the distance of about two 
miles, we shall pass from the tilted up surface of number two, 
directly on to the horizontal surface of number four^ luithout 
deviatin(j percepitihly from a liorizontal line^ thereby exhibiting 
the existence of o. fault or fracture iu the rocks; and the tilted 



HIGH ROCK SPRTNa. 7 

up and fragmentary condition of tlie rooks upon the north of it, 
showing that they must have been broken off and thrust up- 
ward the whole thickness of numbers three and four, estimated 
at about half a mile. 

It is conceded that if the strata of numbers two and four of 
this system, at this point, had the same dip throughout, it 
would be difficult to determine the existence of a fault, for the 
rocks might "over-lap;" but it occurs to find, in several locali- 
ties, upon the north and west side of the valley, patches of the 
lowest portion of the Trenton limestone, superimposed upon the 
calciferous sandrock and having the same diig^ but occupying 
a higher level than the iippermost portion of the same rock, just 
across the valle}''; while upon the opposite side of the fault, 
where it occurs in place^ and is well developed, the strata are 
perfectly horizontal; a fact which coidd not exist had there been 
no displacement. 

If this bird's-eye view of the geology of our locality be borne 
in mind, the reader will be enabled to comprehend the applica- 
bilit}^, or otherwise, to our present subject, of conclusions based 
upon the existence of such fault. 

Two theories have been advanced by which to explain or 
account for the origin of the mineral constituents of our springs, 
to wit : 

1st. The solvent action of the water on the rocks, and their 
imbedded minerals, over or through which it passes. 

2d. The sublimation or consolidation of the various gases 
thrown off by the internal fires of the earth, upon coming into 
contact with veins or bodies of pure water. 

From the universally recognized solvent property of water, 
in its action upon the rocks, especially the calcareous and 
argillaceous, as well as upon many of their imbedded minerals, 
and its mechanical power of suspension exerted upon some of 
their constituents, the opinion has very generally obtained that 
most, if not all, mineral waters are produced in this manner ; 



8 HISTORY OF 

and the more especially when, as it sometimes happens, a pow- 
erful chemical agent, in the form of a gas of some kind or 
other, is present to aid in the production of snch a result. Nor 
has this opinion failed to find adherents among those who class 
themselves with the scientific few. And perhaps, indeed, there 
is some truth upon which to base such an opinion; for, from the 
extensive dissemination of the various acids in a gaseous form, 
and the greater facility with which water is thereby enabled to 
erode the rocks subjected to its action, and the consequent 
increased amount of mineral matter found in such waters, 
seems to warrant something like such a conclusion. And yet 
the condition under which such waters occur, must not be lost 
sight of. The sulphur waters of the Hudson river valley, ex- 
tending north and south a distance of at least 150 miles, with 
a width of some 12 or 15 miles, developed in the "Black slate," 
(No. 4,) and depositing their sulphur upon coming into contact 
with the atmosphere, will not, I think, be attributed to a similar 
source as that from whence our mineral waters are derived ; 
for if we examine the slate we shall find it abundantly charged 
with the sulphuret of iron, by which the phenomena of these 
sulphur waters may be reasonably explained. But even in this 
respect the rule is not persistent, either in relation to the origin 
of the sulphureted hydrogen gas, or the mineral constituents 
of waters charged with such gas. 

Professor Lewis 0. Beck, chemist of the New York State 
Geological Survej'-, in speaking of the sulphur waters of Mon- 
roe and Genesee counties, says : " To show how abundantly 
sulphureted hydrogen is evolved in this district, it is only 
necessary to notice the Caledonia springs in the town of Wheat- 
land, where a large volume of water gushes out of the earth, 
forming a stream nearly one quarter the size of the Genesee 
river at Rochester, and so sour as to char the vegetable matter 
over which it flows." 

Of the various sulphur springs in Genesee county, he says of 



a sm 



HIGH KOCK SrKING. ^ 

gle locality : " There is another locality of a similar kind a 

hunth-ed rods west of Byron h.otel, and tvv o miles east of the 
former," (one previously noticed,) "wliich is remarkable, in 
consequence of the great quantity of acid. It is a spring which 
arises from the earth, in sufficient quantity to turn alight grist- 
mill. Such an immense laboratory of sulphuric acid is here 
conducted by nature, that the water which supplies this peren- 
nial stream possesses acidity enough to give the common test 
with violets, and to coagulate milk." 

" It was my intention to have added to this general view of 
the sulphureted waters of our state, some remarks concerning 
the origin of the sulphureted hydrogen gas thus largely 
evolved; but I have only space to repeat, what has already 
been suggested, that the cause ordinarily assigned, viz : the 
decomposition of the sulphuret of iron, seems to me to be 
lulwUy inadequate, and that we must refer it to some agency 
far more general and effective." 

An argument which we consider conclusive, is found in the 
fact that the sandrock, number two, and the black skate, num- 
her four, do not contain chloride of sodium, magnesia, soda or 
iodine, and especially iodine, which is never found in the rocks. 
And among the altered sediments of the " Quebec group," 
(7,500 feet thick,) no one has ever thought of looking for rock 
salt; consequently the advocates of the solvent theory will be 
driven to look somewhere else for those ingredients of our min- 
eral waters. Nor is it true, so far as our observation extends, 
or upon the authority of others, that water passing over or 
through limerock ever hberates carbonic acid gas in quantities 
sufficient to exhibit its presence by its passage through, or 
escape from, such waters. And an important fact to be remem- 
bered in regard to the sulphur waters of the Hudson river 
valley, above alluded to, formed by solution, is, that they do 
not exhibit the least ebullition from the escape of the sulphur- 



10 HISTORY OF 

etted hydrogen gas, but wliicli is sufficient to impart its odor 
to the atmosphere for a considerable distance. 

But we have actual demonstration ; for within one hundred 
and fifty yards of one of our most remarkable mineral springs 
we have, issuing from the same rock, of ^^recisely the same tern- 
perature^ a copious flow of pure fresh v\^atcr. It therefore 
remains for the advocates of the solvent theory to reconcile 
this obvious '' inconsistency with itself." 

In examining the second theory, three questions very natu- 
rally suggest themselves, viz : 

Are the saline ingredients found in our waters produced by 
the process of sublimation of gases thrown off by the internal 
fires of the earth, any where in nature? 

Are waters ever charged with mineral constituents by such 
process ? 

Are the conditions of the geological formations at Saratoga 
favorable to the development of those elemental gases ? 

We find in our mineral waters chloride of sodium, forming 
about one half their mineral constituents. Of which mineral 
Humboldt says: "The vapors that rise from the /ii7?2«ro??(?5 " 
(small volcanic vents) "cause the sublimation of the chlorides 
of iron, copper, lead and ammonium; iron glance and the 
chloride of sodium (the latter often in large quantities) fill the 
cavities of recent lava streams and the fissure of the crater." 
(The cliloridcs of sodium, iron glance, sulphur, and indeed 
some fifteen or twenty difibrent metals and minerals are being 
formed upon the inner surfaces of the cones of the craters of 
Etna and Vesuvius, when not in a state of eruption, by the 
sublimation or consolidation of the gases emitted by the inter- 
nal fires of the earth, through those avenueS; In fact the 
rocks, and all the solid substances of the crust of the globe, 
and even water itself, owe their origin to the process we are 
now considering.) And hence wc may verj^ pertinently ask 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 11 

whence the salt in sea-water ? If we are answered, from solu- 
tion; we reply that the origin of fossil salt is not suggested by 
such an answer ; and because the cause is not adequate to the 
effect. It must be remembered that we have thousands of 
cubic miles of sea-water, and there are no known deposits of 
salt of sufficient capacity, in the aggregate, to supply such an 
enormous demand. But even if this were so, water, in no 
condition whatever, (if, as in the ocean, that condition be per- 
manent,) can receive its saline ingredients by solution, and 
again deposit them; for the principle which causes the water 
to deposit the salt, would prevent it from taking it up in the 
first place. The Mediterranean is depositing crystals of salt on 
some parts of its bottom, at present. Lake Ooroomiah, in Per- 
sia, has deposited upon its bottom permanent alternating lay- 
ers of salt and sand ; a specimen of which water, examined in 
1844, was found to contain about one quarter jyai^t of solid 
salts. The waters of Lake Elton, in Asiatic Russia, and other 
lakes adjoining the Caspian sea, have deposited thick beds of 
rock salt at their bottom. The same is true of Lake Indersk, 
on the steppes of Siberia. {Dauheny on Thermal and Mineral 
Waters. Tire's Geology.) And we find the process going for- 
ward in the great Salt Lake of Utah. Now, as solution is 
incompetent to impart to water the power to deposit salt, we 
are compelled to look to some other source for the salt con- 
tained in those waters which do deposit it at their bottom. 

It may possibly be ol]ijected, that we have treated of a single 
one of the ingredients of our waters only. "We rej^ly, that all 
of the other constituents, even to iodine, are found in sea- 
water ; and if the greater has its origin in the process of sub- 
limation, it seems to us very rational to suppose that the less, 
existing in the same combination, should have its origin in the 
same cause. 

In relation to the second inquiry, viz : Are waters ever 
charged with their mineral contents by the process of subhma- 



12 HISTORY OF 

tion ? "We answer, unhesitatingly, y^S ] for it must be obvious 
to all, that if, as we have shown is true, those g'eiises do subli- 
mate or resolve themselves into solid compounds upon comlsg 
into contact with the atmosphere, they most assuredly will 
upon coming into contact with a denser medium. But happily 
for us, this position is not unsupported by very high authority. 
President Hitchcock, in quoting Prof. Daubeny upon this sub- 
ject, says: "When these springs" (thernial — which is the 
character -of our springs) " occur in volcanic districts, their 
origin is very obvious. The water which percolates into the 
crevices of the strata becomes heated by the volcanic furnace 
below, and impregnated with salts and gases by the sublima- 
tion of matter from the same focus." 

Dr. Daubeny has shown that "thermal springs not in vol- 
canic districts, in a large majority of cases, rise either from the 
vicinity of some uplifted clmin of mounlains or from clefts and 
fissures caused hy the disruption of the strata ; and are, therefore, 
in all cases, probably the result of deep-seated volcanic agency, 
which may have long been in a quiescent state." 

Humboldt says, "We see issue from the ground, steam and 
gaseous carbonic acid, carbureted hydrogen gas and sulphurous 
vapors. Such effusions from the fissures of the earth not only 
occur in districts of still burning or long extinct volcanoes, but 
they may likewise be observed occasionally in districts where 
neither trachyte or any other volcanic rocks are exposed on 
the earth's surface. * * * We see in Germany, in the deep 
valley of the Eifel, in the neighborhood of the lakeof Laach, in 
the crater-like valley of the Wehr and in western Bohemia, 
exhalations of carbonic acid gas manifest themselves as the last 
efforts of volcanic activity in or near the foci of an earlier world." 

Now, if wo revert to the geologic epitome presented by us 
in the outset, we shall discover that we are in the immediate 
"vicinity of some uplifted chain of mountains ;" that Nos. 1 and 
2 of the New York and Silurean systems are made to assume 



HIGH ROCK SPRIXa. 13 

a i3arallelism with the southern slope of the mountains upon 
our north, i. e. having a dip oftabout 20 degrees, and in some 
instances, as at the Empire Spring, of full 45 degrees, and 
■which necessarily implies a disruption of the strata, unless they 
were in a plastic state at the time of the application of the dis- 
turbing force ; an idea readily dissipated, when we remember 
that Nos. 3 and 4 of the above systems occupy a liorizontal 
2)osition, and that the surface of No. 2 is on a level with the 
surface of ISTo. 4, thereby clearly indicating the fact that Nos. 1 
and 2 have not only been broken off but actually thrust up- 
ward, the entire thickness of Nos. 3 and 4 of our system ; and 
unless there is a wide vacuity between the Plutonic rocks on 
the one hand, and the lower sedimentary rocks on the other, 
(an impossibility,) this fault or fissure extends, necessarily, to 
the internal fires of the earth, and all the conditions competent 
to explain the phenomena of our mineral waters by the method 
we are now considering is, in my judgment, fully established. 

And here we submit, that as an avenue is opened at this 
point, (as we have already abundantly shown,) through which 
the gases from the internal fires of the earth can escape, which 
are noiv producing chloride of sodium (common salt) in other 
localities, that it is quite as philosophical, to say the least, to 
attribute its existence in our mineral waters to that cause as to 
any secondary source; and the more -especially, as such sec- 
ondary source can not he shown to exist in this vicinity; unless, 
indeed, it be demonstrated that the operations of nature are 
not persistent. 

And in this connection (we may say without incurring the 
charge of egotism) it] is certainly gratifying to know that the 
views above expressed have received the endorsement of Prof. 
Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian Institute, not only by 
placing a manuscript copy of the same in the archives of that 
institution, but also by suggesting the idea of giving it pub- 
licity in this popular form. 
2 



Origin and Age of Higli Rock. 



The material of which this rock is composed is principally 
impure lime, and is chiefly derived by the water from the 
loose earthy materials laying upon the i-ock out of "which it 
issues. This material is quite different from any thing origin- 
ally found in the water, and is retained in it by a mechanical 
instead of a chemical force, and consequently, upon its coming 
into contact with the atmosphere, and losing much of its ac- 
tivity, it deposits all those materials which have combined 
with it in its passage from che rocky orifice to the surface, in 
the form of a stony mass, denominated hifa. This is the ori- 
gin, and such the substance forming that singular phenomenon 
known as the " High Rock." 

In all the operations of Nature, everywhere, she has left the 
evidences of some method by wdiich to determine the succes- 
sive stages of progressive development and perfection, in all 
her varied creations. The geologist finds, in the rocks, unques- 
tionable evidences of the stately steppings of the creative en- 
ergy, and by their organic reliquic or imbedded petrifactions 
is enabled to determine the comparative remoteness or near- 
ness of the system he is studying. So, too, the botanist finds 
in the towering giant of the forest the annular rings of its 
growth, and he is thereby enabled to trace itshist/ory far back- 
ward, and perhaps prior to the commencement of his own 
brief existence. And the paleontologist, by comparing one 



HIGH ROCK riPRING. 15 

specimen with another, is enabled to determine the mature 
from those which are immature; and so throughout. 

The apphcation of this hiw, then, to any subject of natural 
history to which our attention may be called, will enable us to 
arrive, approximately at least, at the truth, whenever we en- 
deavor to trace backward to the commencement of their opera- 
tions, those causes which have been instrumental in pro- 
ducing it. 

Taking this law for our guide, then, let us determine, if 
possible, the flge of the High Rock. 

In descending from the surface at this point, seven feet of 
commingled muck and tufa (rocky matter formed by the water) 
was passed through, then a stratum or layer of tufa two feet 
thick, a stratum of muck, and then a stratum of tufa three 
feet thick. 

In determining the time requisite to deposit the five feet 
of tufa, I caused a specimen of the tufa to be ground down 
smooth, and at right angles to the lines of deposit, so as 
to be enabled to count the lines, with accuracy, of annual 
deposit — as the vicissitudes of our climate determine those 
lines, for when frozen, as in our winters, the water makes no 
deposit — I found twenty-five such lines embraced within a 
single inch, and as there arc sixty inches in the aggregate, a 
very simple computation shows that ol^e thousand five hun- 
dred years were consumed in depositing these layers of tufa 
alone ; and this tufa, it must be remembered, was deposited 
irom standing v/ater, or with but very little motion, as the 
tufa occupies a horizontal position. 

Laying upon the stratum of tufa three feet thick, and in the 
stratum of muck superimposed upon it, was found a pine 
tree, the annular rings of which I counted to the number of 
one hundred and thirty ; this sum added to the above, and we 
have the further sum of one thousand six hundred and thirty 
years. And from the foregoing data I deem it a moderate 



16 HISTORY OF 

approximation to claim four hundred years as the requisite 
time in which to deposit the seven feet of superincumbent muck 
and tufa, which [gives the still further sum of two thousand 
and thirty years. 

The facts which add strength to the foregoing conclusions, 
and lend thrilling interest to this subject, are the evidences 
which are found, at this depth from the surface, that this level 
was once occupied by human beings. Here the extinguished 
fire, marks unmistakably the gathering place of the ftimily 
group, many centuries ago. And here, too, linger the "foot 
prints " of a long gone race, as if loth to leave a spot once so 
cherished, and around which clustered so man}'- pleasing recol- 
lections. 

The reader will observe that the above estimate does not 
include the rock or cone of the spring, but simply the interme- 
diate strata between the cone and the deposits below. To de- 
termine the length of time requisite to form the cone or rock 
of the spring, it became necessary to visit a locality where the 
water, which is now depositing tufa, has a velocity similar to 
that which the water must have had from which the rock of 
the High Rock Spring was deposited. Accordingly, resort was 
had to such a locality, and it was found that five of the annual 
strata thus deposited occupied the space of one sixteenth of an 
inch — thus requiring eighty years to perfect one inch ; and as 
the cone of the High Rock is four feet in height, it must have 
required three thousand eight hundred and fort}'- years to have 
formed the cone. And in the aggregate, five thousand eight 
hundred and seventy years (some eminent scientists who have 
had their attention drawn to this subject, estimate its age at 
even more than this,) must have been consumed in the forma- 
tion of the High Rock Spring. 



Chronology of High Rock, 



Away clown amid the unnninbered deeadeb of centuries, 
embosomed in the depths of a primeval forest, whose stillness 
was unbroken save by the stealthy tread of Kature's own 
sons, or the flocks which she had so munificently provided for 
them , in a valley of surpassing wildness and beauty ; in the 
land of a republic the most beneficent, perfect and enduring 
the world ever saw, (and but for the destructive advance of 
the pale-faced invaders would have been perpetual,) the Great 
Spirit Sire, in view of the wants of the brave, guileless, mag- 
nanimous red man, smote for him the rock, and, at the 
omnipotent behest, up leaped the fountain, limpid as the 
"kohinoor," and more priceless than the golden wedge of 
Ophir. No wonder, then, that the red child of nature, 

■ "whose untutored mind 

Sees Grod in clouds and hears him in the wind," 

should bring hither his sick ones, or meet in annual convoca- 
tion to pay his devotions, from a heart unsullied by guile and 
uncontaminated by the cold hypocrisy of later times. And no 
wonder that the Great Spirit Father, pleased with his offering, 
should determine to embellish with a vase of incomparable 
beauty and symmetr}^, tlic red man's pool of Sh.oam. 

Having glanced, in the preceding pages, at the natural his- 
tory of the mineral springs of Saratoga, we shall now attempt 
a chronological history of the great, and indeed only spring, at 
2* 



18 HISTORY OF 

this point, known to the inhabitants, whctlier savage or civil- 
ized, for long periods of time ; «ind the only one for which na- 
ture ever prepared and garnished with her own hands, a chan- 
nel through which it might be presented to tlie invalid sufferer 
witliout invoking any artistic interference whatever. Hence 
nature has indicated this one as her favorite jetiVeau; her 
chosen ahna mater. The only one upon which she has left her 
own- unerring, enduring impress. 

lis ln^-l;ory. runnisng through several centuries, is replete 
vv^ith stirring events ; surrounded by mythical legends, gar- 
landed with oriental metaphors, and embellished with all the 
high wrought fiction so characteristic of the Six Nations. It 
tells of battles fought, and won, and lost. It tells of a "proud 
and powerful republic;" its commencement, its growth, its 
advantages, and its strength. It tells of levees, held annuallv. 
around the pool of " sweet watei's" to please the Great Spirit. 
And, alas! it also tells of the broken-hearted red man wrap- 
ping his blanket around him, taking his last, sad, farewell look 
at the spring which the Great Spirit gave him, and departing, 
dejectedly and forever, to other hunting grounds, far away 
towards sundown. 

It is unquestionably true that centuries ago. and long before 
any of the Caucassian race ever dreamed that such a continent 
as the American had been thrust up from beneath the waters 
of the turbulent Atlantic, or in fact existed any Avhere, the 
aborigines congregated around the High Rock fountain and 
appropriated to themselves the advantages which it proffered. 
The evidences which exist confirmatory of this view, although 
not numerous, are most striking and decisive. 

Beneath the surface of the valley in which this fountain is 
situated, as it exists to-day, and at the depth of about twelve 
feet, was discovered an ancient fire-place. The filling up of 
the intermediate space (by natural processes) between it and 
the present surface, could not have consumed less than two 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 19 

thousand years; and if to this we add the time requisite to 
produce the rock or cone, as we now find it, we shall have 
more than five thousand years of intervening time between 
the. period when the builders of that ancient fire-place sported 
in festive glee, or practiced their epicurean skill, or celebrated 
their victories of the chase and the foray, or, perhaps, planned 
their deeds of warfare and aggression, around this time-hoii- 
ored fountain ; and by the light and heat of this primeval rep- 
resentative of a modern palatial hotel, Hired sumptuousW u]don 
the avails of the field and the war-path, and the time when, it 
came to the hands of its present proprietors. 

Human advancement, all experience tell* u^-, is extremely 
tardy, and this is, true, whether in tlie Stone Age, or in the 
present age — the Iron Age. In the implements which the red 
man has left, scattered profusely all over this region, we find 
evidences of the rudest condition of the race, and also of a 
high degree of advancement upon that condition. 

From implements of the most rude and uncouth character 
ever required or used by uncultured men, to the most per- 
fectly finished axe, hatchet, javelin, amulets, personal orna- 
ments, war-club v/ith its nicely carved wolf's head, and various 
domestic utensils, made from stone, so hard that with all our 
boasted superiority over the red race, we are still unable to 
comprelicnd by what process they performed feats of skill 
which confound and bewilder our most astute lapidaries; and 
in this respect exhibiting a lapse of time quite as astonishing 
as that presented by the geological indications above re- 
ferred to. 

TJie language, too, of the ancient inhabitants of this spot, 
which was but an almost unintelligible jargon once, has arisen, 
through long periods of time, to the dignity of written signs 
as expressive of ideas, and hence we find many of their more 
finished implements bearing evident markings of characters 
giving tangibility to thoughts, or recording the progress of 



20 - HISTORY or 

time ; and thus on until it stands oot in the full proportions^ 
of a written history. 

Having thus emerged from what has generally been" consid-= 
ered the dim, shadowy and unreliable domain of legend and 
tradition, we now approach the more certain and reliable his- 
toric region of civilized life; and essay to cull and W'rite out 
its teachings in relation to a subject which has excited the 
attention and admiration of the world. 

At the beginning of the 18th century the red man w^as in 
quiet, peaceful possession of that portion of the domain of the 
Six Nations, known in aftertimes as the " Patent of Kayader- 
osseras." In 1703 the authorities, under the British crown, 
gave permission to certain persons to purchase from the Mo- 
hawks, one of the tribes of the republic known as the Six 
Nations, the tract of country of which that patent or grant is 
composed. In 1704 the title was perfected. So secretly was 
this title obtained, and so quietly held, that many years 
elapsed before the entire nation of Mohawks (Mohocks) be- 
came aware of their loss. Upon its discovery, many w*ere the 
complaints made to Sir William Johnson, until at length in 
August, 1768, a meeting of the agents of the patentees and 
the chiefs of the Mohocks took place. " The Mohocks, [sa5^s 
Sir William Johnson,] who, on examining the deed and survey, 
and receiving a handsome $um of money ^ were at length 'pre- 
vailed on to yield their claim to the patentees in my presence." 

Just one year previous to the occurrence above narrated, on 
a beautiful day in August, four stalwart Indians might have 
been seen bearing upon their shoulders a litter, upon which 
was reposing an invalid pale face — the friend of the red man — 
in the person of Sir William Johnson, the cortege headed by 
one McDonald. (He stated this fact to Mr. Gr. M. Davison in 
1819.) They had brought their enfeebled "olive tree" to their 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 21 

own Siloam, and he was healed — but for them it was a costly 
oflering upon the altar of friendship. 

From this time forward, the fame of this wonderful natural 
production spread over the land, and another incentive was 
presented to stimulate the cupidity of the white race to make 
still farther aggressions upon the home of the "poor Indian," 
which aggressions have continued until at last no single repre- 
sentative of that once proud and powerful people remains as an 
occupant of their once happy homes ; but they either roam as 
wanderers or are gathered to their fathers to occupy more 
peaceful hunting grounds upon wdiich no aggression is permitted. 

On Friday, February 22, 1771, the patent of Kayaderosseras 
was partitioned, by ballot. And lot number twelve of the 
sixteenth general allotment, on which lot the High Hock Spring 
is situated, by such balloting, came into the possesion of Rip 
Yan Dam. This is the first individual white man who ever ex- 
ercised any possessory jurisdiction over this spring. Dying 
soon after, his executors sold the same to Isaac Low, Jacob 
"Walton and Anthony Yan Dam. Low was attainted for trea- 
son by the legislature of New York, October 1, 1779, and 
Henry Livingston, upon the sale of Low's portion of the lot, 
purchased the same for himself and several of his brothers. 
The property or lot was again divided in 1793. At this time it 
Avas held b}'^ Henry Walton, Henry Livingston and Anthony 
Yan Dam. Walton then purchased Yan Dam's portion of the 
property. 

In 182G, Dr. John Clarke, the then proprietor of Congress 
Spring, through fear that in the hands of its then proprietors, 
or some other persons, the High Rock Spring, (which was then 
the only spring at Saratoga of any note save the Congress,) 
might undergo improvements which would enable it to become 
a successful rival of the Congress, purchased that portion of 
it belonging to the Livingstons. This portion, by his death in 
May, 1846, descended to his widow and heirs. 



22 HISTORY OF 

In the same year. Mr. John H. White, a step-son of Dr. 
Clarke, on behalf of Mrs. Clarke and the lieirs, purchased of the 
executor of Henry Walton the remaining portion of the High 
Rock, and they thus became possessed of the entire property. 

In 1864, William B. White, who succeeded Dr. Clarke in the 
control and management of the Congress Spring, died, and 
soon after it passed into other hands, and the necessity for the 
longer retention of this, to them entirely unproductive prop- 
erty ceased ta exist; and iii 1865 Messrs, xiinsworth and 
McCafirej'' became the o^yners of this prodigy of nature. 

These gentlemen soon after commenced a series of improve- 
ments which have resulted most advantageously to themselves 
and the fountain. After removing the building which sheltered 
the spring they set about removing the rock or cone, whole, 
upon accomplishing which, contrary to general expectation, 
they discovered that the cone had no direct or immediate con- 
nection with the rock below, but that the water was supplied 
by percolation through the intervening soil. They at once de- 
termined upon removing the soil quite down to the permanent 
orifice in the rock below, and b}' supplying an artificial channel 
between that point and the surface, to re-produce that much 
desired spectacle of the water once again bubbling up and 
running over the crest of the cone. After passing through 
about seven feet of commingled muck and tufa, they came 
upon a laj'cr of tufa about two feet thick, then a stratum of 
muck, then another stratum of tufa three feet thick ; through 
the muck were disseminated the trunks of large trees and pine 
and other forest leaves, in profuse abundance — the concentric 
rings of the trunk of one of those trees I counted, and found 
one hundred and thirty — those trees must have lain there for a 
long period of time before they became covered by the increas- 
ing peaty depa^^it, for their upper surfaces were worn smooth 
by the moccasins of the Indians, as they formed a convenient 
passage-way for them to the spring; and thus proceeding 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 23 

through alternating strata of muck and tufa down to the desired 
point, where an opening was reached which furnished a volume 
of water vastly superior to any thing ever before witnessed at 
this place, and so great, even, as to affect materially, for the 
time, the level of the springs in the neighborhood, some of 
them to the extent of quite two feet; thus exhibiting the fact 
that this is the main opening of all our mineral waters at this 
point. A tube was then furnished, placed in position and 
properly secured, in vvdiich the mineral water rose several feet 
above the original surface of the rock or cone. Prepara- 
tions were immediately made for replacing the rock back upon 
the vein of water, and after considerable labor and trial that 
purpose was accomplished, and water welled up through the 
orifice and overflowed the rock ; a spectacle never before pre- 
sented to the admiring gaze of a white man. 

Shice then, as if by magic, there has started into existence 
a towering and capacious building, drest-in fhe Itahan style of 
architecture, designed for, and adapted to, the economic pur- 
poses of the proprietors of the spring. But the fountain itself 
has received an embellishment, which to be properly appreci- 
ated must be seen. A pavilion within a pavilion. The style 
of its architecture is that of the gothic, and most admirably 
adapted and proportioned in all its parts; the whole sur- 
mounted by a mosque-like dome which adds much to the exqui- 
site beauty of the finish. The dome itself is surmounted by 
an emblem significant of the jealous care with which this 
fountain has ever been regarded, whether -in the possession of 
the red or the white man. 

This point having been arrived at, and all the necessary 
preparations completed to reproduce the overflow of the 
waters of the fountain, it was suggested that this was an 
appropriate occasion for a general convocation to witness and 
celebrate the event by the white man, as, in the long past, It 
was the practice of the red man. Accordingly, on the 23d of 



24 HISTORY OF 

August, 1866, (the same month in which the Six Nations used 
to hold their annual levees here,) a national salute ushered in 
the day, and the busy note of preparation betokene<l the ap- 
proaching ceremonies. At 1 o'clock the venerable Walworth, 
president of the day, with Stone, the orator, and invited guests, 
appeared in the forum. And citizens, and strangers from every 
part of the country, gathered in throngs, crowding the build- 
ing and grounds to overflowing, to listen to the orations and to 
catch a glimpse of a phenomenon never before vouchsafed to a 
white man. The following report of the proceedings is copied 
from the Daily Saratogian : 

After the speakers and invited guests had ascended the 
staging erected for their use, Chancellor Walworth, president 
of the day, called the assemblage to order, and delivered the 
following interesting address: 

Ladies axd Gentlemen : AVe are assembled at this time to cel- 
ebrate the successful achievement of two of the enterprising 
citizens of this town, Messrs. Ainsworth and McCaffrey. They 
have taken up this renowned " High Rock " from the argillaceous 
bed upon which it had probably rested for centuries, have ex- 
plored the hidden aperture in tlie calciferous sand stone below 
the clay, through which aperture it received its healing waters, 
and have again restored it to its place; where, I trust, it is de- 
stined long to remain, the wonder, as well as the pride of Sara- 
toga. And, what is of far more importance to us, and to the 
people of the United States generally, they have, by excluding 
the fresh water from tbis very ancient fountain of health, doubled 
the mineral strength of the medicinal waters of the High Rock 
Spring, and have thereby greatly improved their healing proper- 
ties. And this spring is from this time to take its proper place 
as the oldest, and as one of the brightest of the stars in that 
splendid galaxy of sparkling medicinal fountains which have 
already made Saratoga the most celebrated, as well as the best 
watering place iu the world. 



HIGH EOCK SPBINO. 2* 

Alany have supposed this rock to be of recent origin And 
some assert that the healing waters have flowed out of . s top 
re:rnt,y to the co.raencement of the American Ke—. 
But all of them are unciuestionably wrong. The ^0}> fJ'TJlf 
arose five or six feet at least above the highest pomt of the bed 
of lay upon wbich the rock had been formed by the gradua 
dp it of the mineral substances which ^f heen chem.cally 
combined with the water; which water ebbed 0°^ fl°"«'> ^ 
,„rt intervals, as you see it does now And ^eolog.s s w, tell 
you that it required a very long time to form a rock of that he.gh 
by such gradual accretions, before the water cca ed to depos t 
Bew partLes of mineral matter by flowing over the top of this 
^ock' This High Kock spring has been known to wh.^ -- as 
a medicinal fountain, for about one hundred years; and pe.haps 
longer. Sir ^Villiam Johnson, who lived f /° "f ™;f ^^ 
forty miles to the west of it, and who d,ed m July, 1774, was 
brought here bv the Indians a few years before h,s death, to pat- 
take rf its healing waters. In the fall of 1777, after the surrcn- 
dt of General Burgoyne, and while our troops lay at Pal"-;^"™; 
a^out si. miles north of here, several of our offlcers v,s, ed h 
spring, which had then attained some celebr.ty, as one of those 
IJrs has since told me. And it had for a long t.me before that 
been known to the Indians as " The Great Medicme Spnng. 

When the mineral waters of this ancient spring, which are h,s 
day (by artificial means,) made again to flow over the top of th.3 
rock, ceased to flow over, is not known to any one now lmng_ 
Bull will give vou the information I have on that subject. I 
first visited Saratoga in the summer of 1812, flfty-four years smee 
The water in this rock was then about as much below the top of 
the rock as it was when I came here to reside, eleven years after- 
wards, I think eighteen or twenty inches, or perhaps a l.ttle more. 
The late Major-General Mooers, of Plattsburgh, who was an ofli- 
cer of Colonel Hazen's regiment, at the taking of Genera. Bur- 
goyne's army, was at my house, and visited this spring w.th me 
a few years previous to his death. He then told me that he with 
other officers, came from Palmertown to this spring, m October, 
3 



" HISTORY OF 



ablat it'^ '' '"' '"' '''^"' " '"^ ™'^^ '" ""> ^°* ™« then 
about the same as U was when we visited it, sixty years thore- 

About forty-one years since, while holding a circuit court on 

a^ri . d To T. °V"" '''''■ ' ''''■'" «-'■ "- «='>'>'^th with 

S . Eeg.s; and we attended the religious services at the Indian 

vtesItT, ;■■ "!'''"• ^^''™'"° "'= -»"™S -^ afternoon s r- 
vices at the church, we went to the house of one of their chiefs 

named Loran Tarbel, with whom I had become acquainted a^^ 
my res,dence at Plattsburgh. He was then between eightv a d 
nme y years of age, but was in health and in perfect menfal ri'or 
Knowing that some of the St. Regis Indians had once resided on 
the banks of the Mohawk river, I was anxious to learn w^a ,lr 
aged cl„ef knew in relation to this spring. But as he h d 
nnperfect knowledge of the English anguage I spok 'o ' ™'^ 
Captain Tarbel, who had an E„gli.,h edacattnn T} '™' 

High Rock Spring, and asked him if ^ j, JZ^^V^" 
n. He said he had never been here, and ha^ L^ S tfT 
I then requested him to describe it to l,i« r ti \ 

if he had ever heard of it Th! ' , "'' ""^ '° '* "™ 

collections of the v nlbie eh of T" "'1 " '"' ''''' "" 
by the motions of Ms ha^rtfe'lf,;::," ^rtL':^ h! 
sa.d, "-ies, Great Medicine Sprin» " 

He then told m,, through his s^n as interpreter, that he was 
b uatCaugh„awaga,on the Mohawk; and that he emig aid 

w r Tl,at'';:L':h:"'''T™-'" ^--''^f°-*e -omtfon r' 
voro in ho hir'f V T "" '"'''"' '"'"^ » the Mohawk 

see the f;r„. m! i'°„^.'"''"^' ' r ^^"^ '■"^ "i'h "''^ father to 



8PP tliP rv«of AT ^- . ^ ' ''''^^ ""^ ^i^s father to 

see the Great Medicine Spring. I tJ.en asked him if the water 

...... ». ...... .;.. .„:' i ~ *: :.:; ;:::,»::: 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 27 

oat of the rock at its top, but that it had ceased to 'do so for a 
long time before he came here with his father. He then gave me 
the Indian tradition as to the cause of the cessation of the over- 
flowing of the water. The particulars of this tradition I can not 
repeat, in his words, in [the presence of this audience ; but the 
substance of it was that the Great Spirit, who had made this won- 
derful rock, and had caused the healing waters to flow from it 
Spontaneous]}' for the benefit of his red children, was angry on 
account of the desecration of its medicine waters in making so im- 
proper use of them by some of their squaws, who had visited the 
spring and taht the water never flowed over the rock afterwards. 

Such was the tradition of the untutored Indians, who knew 
little of geology or of hydraulics. But the true reason why 
the mineral waters ceased to flow^ out at the top of this rock, 
which had been gradually formed from their deposits, was prob- 
ably this : These waters, in process of time, had found another 
outlet, perhaps at some considerable distance from here, and 
which outlet must have been something like twenty inches lower 
than the level of the top of this rock. For we now see that by 
tubing the mineral fountain so that it can not escape from be- 
neath, or in any other way than through this natural orifice at the 
top of the rock, the present proprietors of the spring now cause 
its healing waters to flow out again, where they had ceased to 
flow for more than a century at the least. 

As the enterprise of these proprietors has thus secured the con- 
trol of these waters, and has greatly improved their medicinal 
value, it is of but little importance whether the water is hereafter 
to be permitted to flow over the rock into artificial basins, or is to 
be drawn from within or from beaneath it, or by other means, for 
public or private use. 

The whitening of the head of him who now addresses you, by the 
snows of seventy-eight winters which have fallen upon it, admon- 
ishes him to recollect that he can enjoy with you this valuable addi- 
tion to our health preserving mineral fountains, only for a very 
short period. Still I rejoice with you all at the success of this 
enterprise, because I believe it will greatly benefit others and be 



2S HISTORY OF 



a source of health and enjoyment to the people of everv section 
of our beloved country. I fervently pray, therefore, 'that the 
healing and health preserving waters of this now renovated 
spring, may long continue to flow from this time honored rock 
or be drawn from it or beneath it, to benefit and bless my fellow 
men. And as the civil war, which has recently scourged this 
once happy country, has now terminated by the submission of 
those who attempted to separate states whose union the founders 
of the constitution had declared perpetual, I hope and trust that 
Saratoga hereafter may continue to be, as it was a few years 
smce, a common center of attraction, where all the people of the 
glorious union, who desire to come hither for health or pleasure 
can meet together as brothers and sisters of a common family,' 
without disturbance from the withering curse of sectional agita- 
tion. For the God of Heaven and earth has decreed 
That never again shall our country have slaves, 
" While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves." 
May we all remember that our Saviour has told us the blessing 
of Heaven rests upon the promoters of peace and good will among 
men, as contradistinguished from those who sow the seeds o° 
discord and fan the flames of strife. And may the glory and 
the felicity of the re-united states of this great confederacy, 
over all of which the Star Spangled Banner now waves triumph- 
ant, continue to increase with each revolving year, until the 
thundering Cotopaxi shall cease to burn, and the cloud-capped 
Chimborazo be sunk in the ocean. 

At the conclusion of the Chaucellor's address the band struck 
up " The Star Spangled Banner," after which the chairman 
introduced the Orator of the day, William L. Stone, Esqr., of 
New York, who pronounced the following eloquent oration. 

" What song the Sirens sang, or what name Achilles assumed 
when he hid himself among women, though puzzling questions, 
are not beyond all conjecture. What time the persons of these 
ossuaries entered the famous nations of the dead, and slept with 
princes and counsellors, might admit a wide solution. But who 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 20 

were the proprietors of these bones, or what bodies these ashes 
made up, were a question not to be resolved by man, nor easily, 
perhaps, by spirits." Thus discoursed Sir Thomas Browne in 
his fearful essay upon Urn Burial, which he was led to write by 
the discovery of the celebrated urn in a " field of Walsingham" 
more than two hundred years ago. Fortunately for the day and 
the occasion, no such mystery now hangs over the wonderful 
raasterpeice of nature, whose clustering memories we are here 
this day to recall. This spot, nevertheless, is consecrated ground. 
We may here, figuratively^ at least, tread upon the dust of kings. 
How long were their line and their triumphs Ave can not tell. Far- 
ther back than three hundred and fifty years, history herself 
is silent. Beyond that time America herself was "one great 
antiquity" buried in darkness of five thousand years, 

I have said that we were treading upon the ashes of kings. It 
is indeed a fact that the royal title was unknown in their own 
imperfect language. But in their rank, their order of descent 
and their manner of exercising power, they were sovereigns and 
their chief sachems kings. " Rude kings they were, it is true. 
Kings Avho reveled not in voluptuousness, nor wasted their time 
amid the delights of the harem, nor degraded their manhood by 
plying the distaff like Sardanapolus. Nor yet were they of those 
who sought immortality by rearing cities and palaces and solemn 
temples, like those of Thebes and Babylon and Tyre. They 
affected not the graves of giants, nor yet sought to mark the age of 
their glory by the stupendous pyramid or the costly mausoleum." 
They were not of the common order of men, but a race proud 
and haughty — whose persons and characteristics were of mingled 
grandeur and gloom — and who, like the Fates of Grecian my- 
thology, seemed born amid the convulsion of the elements, in 
cloud and storm. It is to this kingly race that we owe the 
priceless boon of the spring now before us. Help me, then, to 
lift with reverend hands the veil that, until now, has shrouded it 
in mystery. 

Recent investigations have established the fact that the me- 
dicinal properties of the " High Rock" were well known to the 
3* 



^^ HISTORY OF 



Iroquois Confederacy fully two hundred years before the prows 
of Jacques Cartier's vessels, in 1535, grounded upon the emerald 
shores of the St. Lawrence. It was called by them, as my vener- 
able and learned friend, who has just preceded me. has said the 
'•'Medicine Sprint of the Great Spirit," under whose special 
guardianship it was supposed to be. There can be no question 
moreover, that the water flowed over the rock during this period,' 
since there is yet a well authenticated tradition that it was only 
when the Great Spirit had been seriously offended bv one of the 
Mohawk tribe, that he manifested his displeasure by causing its 
flow to cease. Reticent, however, as the Indian race naturally 
are, the discovery of America had been made many years before 
it was first brought to the notice of the whites: and it is prob- 
able that it would have remained unknown for many years 
longer, but for a most remarkable series of events, which, under 
the guidance of an overruling Providence, brought its properties 
into notice, and gave to the New World a Pool of Bethesda, for 
the healing of the halt, the lame, and the infirm. To show the 
wonderful manner in which this was brought about, is the object 
of him who now addresses you. 

The " High Rock Spring " is deserving^of more than the ordi- 
nary interest that attaches to the springs of Saratoga, not only 
on account of its being the greatest mineral curiosity on the 
globe, and of the superior character of its water, but because it 
was the first spring known to the whites in America. 

The first man who visited it was Sir Wilham Johnson, Bart. 
Sir William, under a commission of Major General from his 
Majesty, George II, defeated the flower of the French army, 
under Baron Dieskau, at the battle of Lake George, on the 8th 
of September, 1755. In this action he received a severe wound 
by a bullet in his thigh, from the effects of which he never wholly 
recovered, but was frequently subject to serious illness. At 
such times the wound, from which the ball was never extracted, 
became excessively painful, rendering him for weeks, after an 
attack, unable to ride on horseback or to endure any active exer- 
cise. Suitable medical attendance it was very difficult to procure, 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 31 

and it frequentl}- happened that having exhausted the contents 
of his own medical cliest, he was obliged to send to Albany, and 
sometimes to New York, for a physician. It was during one of 
these attacks, in the summer of 1767, that the Mohawks deter- 
mined, in solemn council, to reveal to their beloved brother, War- 
ra-ghi-ya-ghj^, the peculiar medicinal properties of the " High 
Rock." Nor, perhaps, could there have been any stronger proof 
of the affection in which he was held by these sons of the forest, 
than their resolution to give their brother the benefits of that 
which they had always sacredly guarded as the precious gift to 
themselves alone, from the Great Spirit. Accompanied b}' his 
Indian guides, the Baronet set out on his journey the 22d of 
August, and passing down the Mohawk from Johnstown in a boat, 
soon reached Schenectady. At this place, being too feeble either 
to walk or ride, he was placed on a litter and borne on the stal- 
wart shoulders of his Indian attendants through the woods to 
Ballston lake, which he readied the same evening. Tarrying 
over night at the log cabin of Michael McDonald, a Scotchman, 
who had recently begun a clearing in the vicinity, the pnrty, 
three hours before sunrise, on Thursday, the 23d of August, 
1767, plunged again into the forest; and following the trail of 
Indian hunters, along that which is now the road from Ballston 
to this village, came to the chief tributary of Lake Saratoga, the 
Kayaderosseras. 

In the gray dawn of that summer morning, along the green 
aisles of the primeval forest, the party silently pursued their 
way. The moccasined feet pressed down the wild flowers in 
their path. Wheeling above with untiring wing, as if moving'with 
and watching over the party, were several noble bald eagles, wiiose 
eyries hung on the beetling crags, affording to the invalid a i)re- 
sage of health and happiness. Aloft the pine tree towered above 
a sea of verdure, and below, the maple, whose virgin cheeks were 
not yet brazen with the paint of early frosts, modestly shrunk 
from the passing gaze. " Old fir trees hoary and grim, shaggy 
with pendant mosses, leaned above the stream," and beneath, 



32 HISTORY OP 

dead and submerged, a fallen sycamore thrust from the current 
the hare, bleached limbs of its collossal skeleton. 

The sun was an hour above the eastern hills, when the startled 
deer saw the evergreens sway, and the Baronet's party emerge 
from the thicket. Their polished bracelets and rich trappings, 
glittering in the dewy foliage like so many diamonds, were in 
keeping with the cheerfulness visible upon each countenance — 
for were they not bearing their dearly beloved brother to the 
medicine spring of the Great Spirit ? As the party emerge from 
the glade upon the green sward, they separate into tv/o divis- 
ions, and, with gentle tread, approach the spring, bearing their 
precious burden in the center. Pausing a few rods from the 
spring, the Baronet leaves the litter ; and, for a moment, bis 
manly form, wrapped in his scarlet blanket bordered with gold 
lace, stands towering and erect above the waving plumes of his 
Mohawk braves. Then, approaching the spring, he kneels, with 
uncovered head, and reverently places upon the rock a roll of fra- 
grant tobacco — his propitiatory offering to the Manitou of the 
spring. Still kneeling, he fills and lights the great calumet, 
which, through a long line of kings, had descended to the re- 
nowned Pontiac, and taking a whiff from its hieroglyphic stem, 
passes it to each chieftain in turn. Then, amid the profound 
silence of his warriors, he for the first time touches his lips to the 
water; and gathering the folds of his mantle about him, amid a 
wild and strange chant raised by the Indians to their Deity, he 
enters the rude bark lodge which, with prudent forethought, his 
braves had erected for his comfort, directly where this building 
now stands ; and in this primitive /w^<*/ reclined the ^rs^ white man 
that had ever visited this spring. Yet while the sufferer lay on 
his evergreen couch, did the fortunes of the General whom he 
had defeated twelve years previously, occur to him 1 Perhaps 
so ; for by a singular coincidence, while the conqueror of Dieskau 
was prostrated amid these forests, where the wounds of both had 
been received, the French General was languishing on his death- 
bed at a small town in the interior of France — 

" The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 33 

The Baronet had been but for four days at the " High Rock," 
■when he received letters obliging him to hasten immediately 
home. Short as his visit was, however, the water restored his 
strength so far as to enable him to travel some of the way to 
Schenectady on foot ; and again. taking his water carriage, he 
arrived on the 4th of September, at the Hall, to welcome his son 
Sir John, who had just- arrived from England. The popularity 
of Saratoga Springs, as a watering place, may be said to date 
from this visit. " My dear Schuyler," writes the Baronet upon his 
return, to his intimate personal friend General Phillip Schuyler, " I 
have just returned from a visit to a most amazing spring, which 
almost effected my cure ; and I have sent for Dr. Stringer, of 
New York, to come up at once and analyze it." Accordingly 
when Schuyler effected a settlement on the banks of the Hudson, it 
was, undoubtedly', the remembrance of this letter that caused him, 
in 1783, to cut a road of twelve miles through the forest to this 
spring and erect a tent, under which himself and his family spent 
several weeks, using the water. Hence it was that the fact of so 
distinguished a personage as Sir William having been restored by 
the water soon became noised through the country. Others were 
induced to make the trial ; new springs were discovered : and 
thenceforth the springs became the resort of those who were in 
pursuit of health and pleasure. For many years after its discovery, 
the "High Rock" continued to be the resort of people from all 
sections of the country ; and when other springs were found in the 
neighboring village of Ballston, the chief drive of the visitors was 
a romantic drive through the woods to the " High Rock Spiing." 
The question will here very naturally be asked, if the High Rock 
was so celebrated, how did it happen ^that it has remained until 
this late day comparatively unknown 1 

The answer is very simple. In April, 182G, the late proprietors 
of " Congress Spring " bought the former from Walton and Living- 
ston, and kept it in the background. These proprietors, however, 
having recently died, the spring was purchased from the heirs by 
its present owners, Ainsworth and McCaffroy. The object of these 
gentlemen in making the purchase was to bring the High Rock 



34 HISTORY OF 

into such prominence before the public as its real value as a restor- 
ative demanded. Accordingly, no sooner had the sale been com- 
pleted, than — as lieccnstnidmis are all the order of the day — 
they resolved to " reconstruct " their purchase, and endeavor, if 
possible, to cause the water again to overflow the rock. The pro- 
ject at first, as with "Reconstructions" generally, did not meet 
with public favor, as fears were entertained that Saratoga might 
be deprived of one of her greatest attractions. But in the face of 
numerous obstacles they persevered, and the result — of which you 
have visible proof to-day — has demonstrated the practicability of 
their plan, and all the mysteries of the High Rock and its spring 
have been unveiled to the public gaze. A slight excavation 
showed that the rock only extended a few inches below the sur- 
face, and it was easily removed. "Within it was a chamber about 
two feet in diameter, and below a pit formed by the bubbling 
water, about ten feet in depth, in which were found a large num- 
ber of tumblers lost in dipping the water. Around the cone, 
for an area of four hundred feet, the soil was found to be filled 
with two independent layers of encrustations or fufa — formed 
by the deposits of the water — one of them three feet in thickness, 
and the other two. Immediately beneath the rock lay the body 
of a pine tree, eighteen inches in diameter, which still retained 
its form, and was sufficiently firm to be saAvn in sections and 
pulled out. This tree must have fallen before the formation of 
the surface rock commenced, and had imdoubtedly lain there 
thousands of years. For many years before the stalagmite 
formation of the cone hid it from sight, this tree — evidently 
placed there by design — was used as a convenient pathway 
to the spring, since the upper side of the log has been worn to a 
polished surface by the moccasins of the aboriginals. 

A very interesting question here arises. What is the age of 
this remarkable fountain 1 The rock itself was formed, as you 
doubtless are aware, by the precipitation of minerals held in 
solution by carbonic acid gas. The rock or cone is four feet in 
height. Now by counting the annual deposits of tufa, it is found 
that five of the yearly layers measure one sixteenth of an inch. 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 35 

Hence eighty years are required to deposit a single inch, or nine 
hundred and sixty years for a foot. From this it appears 
that the age of the rock from its first formation to the period 
when the water — having been forced by hydrostatic pressure 
into another outlet — ceased to overflow the rock, can not be 
less than four thousand years. And if to this be added the time 
consumed in forming the tufa, which is two thousand years more, 
we have six thousand years, as near as geological investigation 
can determine, as the age of this mineral fountain itself — placed 
here by the Almighty two centuries before he created man in his 
own image — while darkness yet brooded over the face of the 
deep. The excavation was continued about twelve feet, when it 
became evident that only a few inches more would bring to view 
the crevice in the solid rock out of which this wonderful fountain 
unceasingly flows. The tubing is now fitted to the rock, so as to 
exclude all extraneous substances and confine the gases ; and it 
is confidently believed that a superior mineral water has been 
obtained, which will be available for commercial purposes. 

Thus is it that in the hands of its present owners the ambro- 
sial nectar of the gods becomes a veritable fact, and the "elixir 
of life," sought for so many years in vain by the alchemists of 
old, finds in this spring its realization. Upon this Rock, Hebe 
may break her cup, and, chagrined and discomforted, acknowl- 
edge that her vocation is at an end. Had the " High Rock 
Spring" stood on the borders of the Logo d' Agnaus, the noted 
Grotto del Cani would never have been heard of beyond the 
environs of Naples; while this fountain in its place would have 
been deservedly celebrated in story, to the admiration of the 
world, as one of the greatest of curiosities ! 

It remains only to speak of the agency which the battle of 
Lake George exercised in bringing this spring into notice. In- 
deed, the parallel that exists between the benefits which that 
action conferred upon our national and physical life is so striking, 
that a brief glance at it may not be omitted by those Avho read 
the hand of God in every event of life. The action of the 8th of 
September, 1755, so far as concerns the number of men engaged, 



36 HISTORY OF 

was not a great battle ; but Avhen viewed in its immediate strat- 
egical ^results, it well deserves a prominent place among the 
battles of American history. " The battle of Lake George," 
says the late Reverend Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, in his admi- 
rable discourse upon this action, "is memorable in defeating a 
well-laid, dangerous scheme of the enemy, and in saving the 
provinces from scenes of bloodshed and desolation. If Dieskau 
had succeeded in overthrowing Johnson in his intrenchments, his 
advance upon Fort Edward would have been easily successful, 
and thence his march to Albany would have been triumphant. 
The conflagration of our northern settlements Avould have been fol- 
lowed by the desolation of Albany and Schenecady; and although 
Dieskau must have soon been compelled to retreat, it is impossi- 
ble to estimate the bloodshed, plunder and general losses, which 
might have taken place had not God ordered it otherwise. The 
victory of Lake George undoubtedly rescued the province from 
injury and woe beyond computation ; considered, therefore, in 
its immediate strategical results, the battle was one of the 
most important engagements in American history. The battle 
of Lake George is also remarkable for its influence in ral- 
lying the spirit of the American colonies. Much had been ex- 
pected from the three expeditions sent against the French ; but 
disappointment and sorrow had already followed Braddock's ter- 
rible defeat. All the provinces were amazed, awe struck for a 
time, but recovering from the first shock of the calamity, they 
were aroused to avenge their loss. 

Johnson's victory was received as the j)recursor of a recovered 
military position and fame, and was hailed as a means of deliv- 
erance from a bold and cruel foe. Few battles ever produced 
more immediate results in rekindling military and martial enthu- 
siasm. Congratulations poured in upon General Johnson from 
every quarter. Not only were the colonies filled with rejoicing, 
but the influence of the triumph went over to England, and the 
deeds of our fathers at Lake George became familiar to the ears 
of royalty, and were applauded by the eloquence of Parliament," 

But again. The battle of Lake George was ftirthermore 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 37 

memorable in its suggestions of provincial j)rowess, and its lessons 
of warfare to the colonies preparatorj' to their independence. 
It is a mistake to suppose that Bunker Hill was the first scliool in 
which the colonists were taught their ability to struggle witli 
veteran soldiers. It was at Lake George that tliis lesson was 
learned ; and it is very doubtful whether the colonists would 
have dared to have taken the stand they did, had it not been for 
the lessons of the old French war. The battle was fought by pro- 
vincial troops, and chiefly by the sons of glorious old New Eng- 
land. The veteran regulars of old England had been beaten in 
the forests of Western Pennsylvania, or remained inactive in the 
Niagara expedition. Through some unaccountable cause, the 
expedition, which was on the direct line of Canada, and nearest 
to the French reinforcements known to be at hand, was con- 
signed exclusively to the care of native colonial soldiers ; and 
bravely did they do their duty. On these shores provincial 
prowess signalized its self-relying capabilities ; and in this battle 
and in this war the colonists practically learned the value of 
union. Putnam, and Stark, and Pomeroy came here as to a 
military academy to acquire the art of warfare, which they 
all exercised at Bunker Hill. George Washington himself, as a 
military man, was nurtured for America and the world amid the 
forests of the Alleghanies, and the rifles and toraakawks of these 
French and Indian struggles. Lake George and Saratoga, are 
continuous not merely in territorj'-, but in heroic association. 

As this battle, therefore, was in a measure the source of our 
present national life, so. by leading indirectly to the discovery of 
this pring, it has been a source of renewed physical energy to the 
nation. One is but the correlative of the other. San-t mens in 
corpore sano is as true of the body politic, as of the body 
physical ; and if our existence as a nation is preserved, it 
will be by keeping intact the mental and physical energies 
of the people. " Soldiers," said Napoleon, on the eve of one 
of his battles, and in one of those bulletins with wliich he 
was wont to electrify all Europe. " Soldiers, from yonder 
pyramids, forty centuries are gazing down upon you!" But on 



38 HISTORY OF 

llie eve of the battle of Lake George, from far nobler and grander 
heights the Providence of God was looking down moulding and 
shaping its results for the benefit of mankind throughout the 
ages, "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, 
clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the 
Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of 
the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner 
of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month ; and the leaves of 
the tree were for the healing of the nations." 

Aware of the importance attached, by the public, to every 
thinj^- pertaining to this heirloom which has come down to us 
from an epoch much earlier than our own, and the apparent 
inyster}^ which hangs about the whole; I have been thus par- 
ticular in collating and presenting the chronological facts relative 
to this subject. . Those obtained from the Chief of the Tusca- 
roras are perfectly authentic, and, so far as I am aware, are 
entirely new to the civilized world. 

The white man's chronology, too, of this particular wonder 
of t])e world, has hitherto existed only in the form of musty 
title deeds, running through long periods of time, and held b}' 
individuals residing in dijBferent and distant sections of the 
countr}'. And it is confidently believed that this is the first 
time in wliich a connected and continuous history of this re- 
markabk' fountain has ever been presented to the public. 



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